Familiar Faces
by Bastet1023
Summary: Kain travels back to the time of his childhood and meets a familiar face. Oneshot.


_The idea for this randomly surfaced in my mind and since it came out well I decided to post it as a One-shot. I will be continuing my other LoK story but I am current battling with a bad case of writer's block. Enjoy!_

**Familiar Faces**

Kain strode slowly down the street, his black cloak hitched tightly around him, hiding him from view of the humans that moved about, oblivious to the deadly predator that moved in their midst.

Sometimes Kain wondered how the human race managed to survive so long. If it was not for the slight intelligence and shrewdness of a hand-full of their ancestors, he doubted that the human race would have survived the challenges of nature; let alone make it to the top of the food chain… well, at least one of the higher links, below that of the vampires.

Despite the crowded streets due to the midday human shoppers, Kain felt rather relaxed and calm among them. Back in his time, his domain, rough times were unfolding, each new, dreadful occurrence causing endless flows of problems, not to mention a constant headache. The clans were falling apart and his reign was careening towards a disastrous end.

It was approximately a century after he had ordered Raziel cast into the abyss and a few more centuries until Raziel would rise from the dead to exact a violent revenge upon his brothers and incite the chase which would launch both of them into a race through time and space changing destiny and fate in the process.

Kain chuckled coldly to himself. Raziel would be so naïve when he first met him after his resurrection, raging of how Kain massacred his clan after his execution. Though those actions were distasteful and unpleasant, each of them were choreographed and made with the utmost care, to ensure that Fate would not steal away his, Raziel's, or even Nosgoth's rightful destinies. Raziel would see that eventually, hopefully in time to save both of their lives and destinies, not to mention Nosgoth itself. At the moment, Nosgoth under his reign was falling apart, unable to hold itself together without the support of the Pillars.

Kain's surroundings were, however, not of his own dying empire, but that of many centuries earlier, when humans were the ultimate power, not the hunted prey of the vampires, and vampires were hiding in fear of their human hunters and executioners. So much would change, all because of him and his choices.

The time he was present in was the relatively peaceful one of his human childhood. This medium sized town was where he had grown, lived, and survived as a human, the son of a wealthy merchant; so ignorant of the forces that were watching his every move and of his role as the newest Balance Guardian.

Every once in a while, Kain would leave the Sanctuary, go to one of Moebius's sporadically placed Time-Streaming Chambers, and would travel back to his childhood time and home. He did this mainly to escape the havoc and chaos of that dying world and also to think and look forward to the choices he would be forced to make and where they, in turn, would lead him. It was much easier to think clearly in this place rather than in that ruined hell Nosgoth would become.

The buildings of the town were achingly familiar. Though he was perfectly content with being a vampire, whom Ariel could attest to, Kain could not deny the small pang of longing he felt when he came here. The wish for the innocence he had enjoyed those few years of his moral human life. Should he have known what had lay in wait for him he would have savored and cherished those blissful years, not caring about any of those small insignificant worries that so often beat on the backs of young humans.

The gleeful shrieks of children reached his ears as a small group of them raced down the street, dodging horse-drawn carriages, annoyed adults, and the occasional guard who shouted at them to scatter. The children were heedless of their betters, laughing at their elders' vain attempts to stop or slow them.

It appeared that the children were fighting over what seemed to be a small round object, probably a rock, which had been placed in an emerald colored handkerchief, and tied tightly with a bit of string so when thrown the ends of the fabric would trail behind like a wispy tail. There were two teams apparently, though only the children seemed to be able to tell who was on which team. The object was thrown back and forth between them, along with cheers and jeers as each team mocked the other at their minor successes. Most likely it was some warped game of keep-away. Young girls in colorful blouses and skirts giggled and made faux attempts to grab the prize, occasionally succeeding and quickly throwing it back in to the flurry in which boys would fight almost viciously to gain the prize. Kain slowed his pace to watch, amused by the game.

At one point an orange haired boy broke from the crowds and began to race away with the object. Out of nowhere a boy launched himself at the orange-haired one, taking them both to the ground, quickly snatching the object, and bolting away. Another boy with blond hair called to his teammate, who was being gained on by the opposing team. With a well aimed throw, the boy threw the object to his blond friend who caught it easily and drew the pursuers away.

Unfortunately, the boy was too engrossed with his friend and the game that he failed to watch where he was going and ran right into Kain, falling back and to land in a heap upon the ground.

Kain barely moved as the child ran onto him. He only grasped the edges of his cloak tighter so the child could not see anything strange about him; that last thing he needed was to be discovered. Kain stared down at the boy, whose shoulder-length dark brown hair hung messily about his face. He was dressed in brown leather breeches, black boots, and a loose white shirt, which had small smudges of dirt about it. He seemed to be relatively well up-kept, marking him as a son of a noble. The boy shook his head, moving his hair out of his face and looking up at Kain with a slightly guilty look. The boy's ice blue eyes stared at him worriedly as he smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, sir, I didn't see you."

Kain pulled back sharply at the voice and its' familiarity. As he put the voice to the face he felt a cold shock rush over himself. Kain was looking at himself, as a child.

His younger self began to stand and Kain took a step back, still in shock. He had never looked upon himself during his time travels and this unexpected meeting had taken him by surprise. Looking upon himself at such an ignorant and innocent stage in his long life filled Kain with resentment, pity, and, strangely, envy. He couldn't take his eyes off his young, human, self.

"Sir, are you alright?" his younger self asked, tilting his head and trying to get a better look at the face in the heavy shadows under the hood of the cloak, curiosity etched on his face as he moved closer.

Kain quickly snapped out of his shock, took a step back, and murmured, "I'm fine." On an impulse, Kain reached out to touch his younger self. Making sure the cloak covered his cloven hand he rested it on his younger self's shoulder, leaned forward, and whispered, "Keep fighting Fate. Never give up and never lose hope. You will claim your destiny."

Kain pulled away, turned, and quickly strode away from his younger self, who stared after him with a look of confusion on his youthful face. It would be wise to return to his proper time and place in Nosgoth's dark future, upon his throne at the base of the ruined Balance Pillar. He also decided, sadly, that this was the last time he returned to this time period; it was too easy to incidentally destroy Time's fragile structure.

Kain shuddered as he felt Time twist as new memory surfaced in his mind, and breathed a sigh of relief as the time distortion settled. He knew nothing much had changed, but for a light spark of hope that grew slightly within him.

Kain stared after the stranger in the cloak. What had he meant? He shuddered; that stranger gave him the chills. But his voice seemed eerily familiar. Shrugging, Kain turned and ran off after his friends, pushing the stranger out of his mind. It was probably just some raving madman anyway.

_I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please review, I want to know how I did on my first 1-shot. _


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